French Designer Phillippe Starck, Apple And A 'Revolutionary' Product: What Mystery Could It Be?

Renowned French designer Phillippe Starck revealed in an interview on Friday that he has been working with Apple on a “revolutionary” product that will be unveiled in the next eight months. Photo: REUTERS/Charles Platiau

Renowned French designer Phillippe Starck has revealed that he has been working with Apple on a revolutionary product that will be unveiled in the next eight months.

During the interview with French radio channel France Info Friday, Starck didn't disclose any further details on what the product might be, but said that he shared a mutual relationship with Apple's former CEO Steve Jobs and used to meet him regularly before his death in October last year.

Indeed, there is a big project together which will be out in eight months, said the designer in the show Everything and its opposite. Invoking the religious cult of secrecy of the California firm, he declined further detail, except to talk about a project quite revolutionary (...) if not very.

For seven years I came to see him once a month in Palo Alto and elsewhere Monday I go there, because even though he is dead, now I will see his wife. We liked to talk all things interesting, he said.

According to reports, the project that Starck described as revolutionary could be anything - Apple's new spaceship-like campus, an Apple Store concept, the much-anticipated Apple television, or even the next iPhone iteration.

Apple Insider reported that there's no indication that Starck had worked with Apple before although he did design premium iPhone/iPad speakers and headphones previously for peripherals company Parrot in 2008.

The comments from Starck will undoubtedly fuel speculation about a rumored Apple television set that the company is believed to be working on, said the report.

The comment could be related to those of Jobs himself that he made to biographer Walter Isaacson. In interviews for Isaacson's book released last year, Jobs said he had 'cracked' the secret to building an integrated, easy-to-use television set that will have 'the simplest user interface you imagine', the report added.

A report in Redmond Pie tended to add more insights into it citing analyst Peter Misek of Jefferies.

If the product is, indeed, a form of the Smart TV set, it would tie in nicely with what analyst Peter Misek of Jefferies - a global securities and investment banking group - said last week upon increasing his price target for AAPL stocks to $800. Misek believes a TV set from Apple is to materialize sometime during the last quarter of this year, and backs his story up by pointing out that Foxconn and Sharp have just cemented a deal of around $800 million bucks, which could be the nucleus of production, said the report.

If we had to bet, we would put our money on the revolutionary remote control that will be associated with the future Apple TV set. This is particularly in this area that innovation in design and ergonomic are needed, and Starck and his team are known for that, said a Hardmac report.

Apple Denies Collaboration With Starck That Shifts The Focus To Something Else

What is the French designer working on with Apple? Well, the company said it's nothing.

When reached for comment by AllThingsD, an Apple spokesperson said the company is not working on a new product with Starck. After Apple's denial, the focus has been shifted from an iDevice to something else which has something to do with Steve Jobs.

Cult of Mac reported that Starck's revolutionary project could be Job's under-construction yacht, mentioned in Isaacson's biography of the Apple founder. Prior to his death, Jobs was reportedly designing his own luxury yacht and Starck was aiding him on the project. That's likely why Starck said he has continued to meet with Jobs' widow Laurene.

In all likelihood, Apple as a company wouldn't have anything to do with such a project, and it's reasonable to think that he could've conflated Apple with Jobs himself in an interview, according to the Verge.

It is believed that Jobs began designing the yacht in 2009. As per a description given in Isaacson's biography of Jobs, the yacht has a sleek and minimalist design, with 40-foot-long glass walls.